Friend of a Friend
by Space Mercutio
Summary: Sonic invites Silver to see a friend of his play in the orchestra. In Silver's experience, staying awake for an orchestra was harder than trying to hit a fly with a baseball bat. But, as he would soon find out, staying awake would be no trouble as long as he could watch her.
1. Hi, We Haven't Met

Silver had always been a thinker; an introspective sorta guy. It wasn't that he was shy or socially awkward, he was just more comfortable talking to himself than talking to strangers. But the stranger he was staring at now was definitely interrupting his thoughts, and he was pretty sure he liked it.

* * *

Although now he was fairly certain he wouldn't ever forget it, Silver had been completely unaware of this anomaly's presence thirty-eight minutes earlier. He had filed into a row of a round, roomy auditorium behind Sonic, who was eagerly chattering behind him. He'd been brought here by Sonic because a friend of his was supposed to be playing tonight, and Sonic had received two tickets.

"Thanks again for this, dude. You know I'm not a classical music kinda guy, so I was running around trying to find someone to keep me awake." He laughed. "Tails was busy. So was Ames."

"It's no problem," Silver replied. "I'll, uh, keep you awake and stuff."

Even so, Silver wasn't really a "classical music kinda guy" himself. Keeping himself awake would be a real challenge in and of itself. But if it meant keeping Sonic from embarrassing the two of them, then he wanted to stay awake. He remembered stories of Amy taking him out for a movie, only for the couple to leave about half an hour in on account of _someone's_ snoring.

"Looks like we're just in time," Sonic observed as he passed Silver his program. Silver attempted to decipher the tiny lettering, but he did so in vain as the lights dimmed and the show began.

An oboe player strode up to the podium, and played a single note. In unison, half the orchestra followed suit. The process repeated again, and the other half replied.

Silver was unsure if he should clap. This sort of thing was unfamiliar to him, but it didn't seem very impressive.

"Who's your friend, so I know who to look out for?" Silver whispered quickly to Sonic.

"You see the cat, there in the back?" Sonic pointed forward. It didn't help.

"Oh, yeah." Silver didn't see the cat. Oh - wait - maybe? That could be a cat...yeah, that was probably the one.

The oboe player returned to their spot, and a different person entered the stage from elsewhere. He was carrying a baton - must be the conductor. When he stepped onto the podium, the crowd applauded eagerly. Silver thought this was all very confusing.

As the music started, Silver became confident he wasn't a "classical music kinda guy." It wasn't that the music was _bad_ \- he was sure they were all very talented, because he certainly wouldn't be able to tell the difference. It was just thoroughly unappealing to him.

His eyes began to scan the room for anything interesting. How about that there architecture? ...Eh. It was alright. Beside him, Sonic began to yawn.

Silver fought back his own yawn, and then nudged Sonic so as to keep him awake. Oh, yeah. This was going to be hard. He blinked hard to combat the drowsiness.

Then, as his vision refocused, he saw her.

In the violin section (although Silver certainly couldn't tell you the difference between a violin and a banjo) was a cat (being? Apparition? It was too good to be true) that far outshined (outshone?) the rest. Her left hand fluttered over the strings, eyes boring into the page before her in a fiery sort of concentration.

If there was a goddess of the orchestra, it was her.

Silver had laid the program on the floor by his chair, but now he lunged for it, accidentally bumping the concertgoer to his right. He didn't care. He held the program under the dim lights, squinting to try to make sense of it. How was this organized? By instrument? Okay, by his estimation, and limited knowledge of the instrument family, that was probably a violin. Let's see, seventh from the front...is that how you do it?

He traced his finger down seven names, arriving at...Blaze. That had to be her name. No other name would suit such a creature.

He couldn't stop watching her. Beside him, Sonic was clearly a bit confused by Silver's apparent unbroken focus on the concert, but drowsiness stopped him from asking.

Silver didn't remember how many songs they'd gone through, but before he knew it, the program was over. As Blaze left the stage, he felt sad. Like he wouldn't see her again. Sonic practically had to pull him out of the auditorium.

Sonic told Silver they would wait for his friend. "But," Sonic added, "I gotta hit the restroom. Be right back." With that, he dashed off to the tiled chamber.

Silver scanned the crowd. Was she in there somewhere? He looked to the left. No dice. He looked to the right. Nada.

He looked straight ahead. There she was.

Looking right at him.

She started forward.

Was this happening?

Silver looked away. He shouldn't stare. But she kept coming closer.

"Hi," she said suddenly. Silver looked up. Was she talking to him? "Are you a friend of Sonic's?"

Wait. _This_ was Sonic's friend? Oh, _crap._

Silver looked around, and then realized that yes, indeed he was. "Yeah, uh...yeah."

"Oh, good. I saw you with him and I assumed. Is he here?"

"Oh, uh, yeah, he just, well, he'll be right back." How many interjections could he fit into one sentence? He was making a fool of himself. "Blaze, right?"

"Yes. And you are?"

"Silver."

"Do you enjoy this kind of music?"

"Oh, um." Should he tell her no? Should he tell her he liked _her_? No, that was a verified 100% bad idea. "...Yes."

"Well, I hope it was worth your while," Blaze smiled. It was like something exploded in his chest. He wasn't sure it would be able to recover.

Luckily, Sonic returned just in time. "I see you guys have gotten acquainted," he remarked. "Great! Blaze, still feel like hanging out?"

"That would be great," she replied. Hang out? Silver hadn't gotten _this_ memo.

"Oh, yeah. Silver, I told Blaze she was welcome to hang with us for a while. I hope that's alright."

"Uh...sure." Should he sound more enthusiastic? Would that be creepy? What on earth was going on?!

He wasn't sure exactly. But he _was_ sure that he liked it.


	2. Nice Ice

Silver had to admit, he'd been pretty sure Sonic's idea of classy was McDonald's. Going to Olive Garden post-concert was not something he expected from him. Silver was impressed.

It was actually his second time at Olive Garden. It looked like any other fancy restaurant - plush carpet, a room lined with booths, and of course, quiet jazz you could barely hear over the clink of other people's drinks and other people's lively conversations.

It wasn't like Silver was uninterested by the conversation at his table. Talking to Sonic was fun, and Blaze was someone he'd like to get to know better. But right now, it felt like he was just watching the two of them talk. He had nothing to add, nothing to say. _Great job, Silver_ , his ice cubes clanked. _You're a real conversationalist._

"So I said to Tails, 'Where do you plan on landing that thing?' and he goes, 'Right on Knuckles' head.'" Sonic could hardly tell the story between gasps of laughter. Silver could make out most of the story - something about Tails building a miniature plane in their dorm and flying it past the RA (that was Knuckles).

Silver had only known Blaze for a few hours, but he was pretty sure that getting her to laugh the way Sonic was now was an impressive feat. Her laugh was amazing. Even if she was just laughing at Sonic's jokes, he felt a swell in himself that he never wanted to stop.

The steady stream of knee-slappers eventually slowed, and Sonic said, "Hey, Silver. Tell the one about the time we met."

Silver, startled, began to clutch at his fork. "Oh, are you sure?" he asked nervously. To tell the truth, he was pretty embarrassed by this particular story.

"Yeah, sure! I've about talked my mouth off," he laughed. Silver kind of wished he had a bit more mouth to talk off.

"If you say so," Silver said uncertainly. "Well, it was in the cafeteria - I dunno if you the cafeteria on campus, it was the one with the Chick-fil-A...anyway.

"For the last few days, uh, I would open my door and there would be a water balloon on my door, you know, positioned to fall - do you know what I mean?

"I didn't like that, not really. Uh." He wished he had Sonic's talent for telling stories. "It was like the fourth time? Right?"

"Yeah, I think," Sonic said.

"Yeah. Uh, fourth time. I saw someone in red shoes running as I walked out this time, but I couldn't see really well because, you know, water in my face. Um. Well, I was at the cafeteria when I noticed Sonic walking around, and you know, he's got red shoes and stuff, so I went up to him and told him off."

"But I had no idea what he was talking about," Sonic grinned. "Imagine that: me not knowing about that! Silver wasn't buying it. 'Yeah, could you not?'" he said, imitating Silver.

Silver blushed. He really hated telling this one. "Yeah, uh, I was pretty mad."

Sonic snorted. "That makes it sound kinda tame."

Silver frowned. "You wanna hear the story or not?" Then he blushed again - that certainly wasn't saving him any face in front of Blaze.

"Go on," Blaze simply said. Silver's heart skipped a beat.

"O-okay," he said meekly. "Well, yeah, I didn't believe him. I, uh, sorta flipped him the bird."

The corners of Blaze's mouth turned up. "Really?"

Silver looked down, as if he could stare into his chest, which currently contained his rapidly beating heart. "Yeah." He was pretty sure it was dangerous for it to be doing this strenuous of gymnastics, especially at this hour of the night.

"And it was actually the guys one room over," Sonic chuckled. "Tell you guys what, I gotta hit the little hedgehogs room." He stood, flashing the two a quick grin before disappearing into the mix of tables and waiters and customers. That left Silver alone, across the table from Blaze.

Silver stared intently at his napkin, hoping that somewhere in the creases was a guide to what the heck he should do now. Should he tell her he liked the concert? No, he already did that. Uh…

Suddenly, a thought occurred to him like a bolt of lightning. He was very socially inept. Sonic was not. He would never have the kind of charm Sonic had. And certainly nothing he could do would win over someone like _Blaze_ , especially after that whole story. Geez, why did Sonic have to pick _that_ one?

So what came out was, "I'm sorry you, um, had to hear that."

Talking to her was _really_ hard. He had to search for the words and force them out.

She raised an eyebrow. "It was fine," she said, totally at ease. Although her dismissal made him feel a little better, the fact that she was so comfortable only made him more uncomfortable.

 _What a talker_ , Silver's half-melted ice cubes jingled.

"You know, I've only been here twice," he said. It was the only thing he could think of.

"Only twice? That's weird…" she said. "...no, wait. _I've_ only been here three times. I suppose that would make us normal."

"Oh, really? That's funny," Silver said, attempting to smile humorously and ending up with an expression not unlike a papier-mache representation of the Elvis Lip. Which, he supposed, accurately described the funniness of the "joke". Which it wasn't. Which was unfortunate. Sonic, please come back.

As if on cue, Sonic reappeared. "Alright! The party can start." In addition, Silver could start breathing. "Who's ready for the bill?" Oh, wait. He'd spoken too soon.

Silver's heart skipped a beat. He patted his pocket, finding only denim.

He'd only brought enough money for the ticket - Olive Garden hadn't been on his mind at all (although it wasn't really his fault). What was he going to do? And how could he do it without looking like a douche in front of Blaze? Could he do it without looking like a douche in front of Blaze?

He looked up, trying to catch Sonic's eye, when he realized Blaze looked confused. "I thought you said you were covering the bill?"

Sonic laughed. "Relax, I am." Silver tried to refrain from kicking him: a very hard thing to do, all things considered.

The bill came and went, with the conversation resuming as it had before, and all too soon, they were on their feet, about to leave. "You need us to drop you off, Blaze?" Sonic asked.

"Could you? That would be great," Blaze replied, giving him a grateful smile.

Silver felt a pang of something. Jealousy? No, that couldn't be right - he'd never felt like this before. He wasn't jealous of Sonic's charm at all.

He was 100% jealous of Sonic's charm, and he was absolutely head over heels for Blaze. What a night, what a night.

As they neared Sonic's car, Silver trailing slightly behind the both of them, he wanted to do something for her. Something that would make her remember him. Nothing was coming to him. He tried to think smaller.

Aha! Silver started for the passenger door. Blaze would be headed there, of course, as Sonic's passenger. That was what normal human beings did. So he would open it for her.

That was when Sonic, already at the front of the car, walked around it to open it for Blaze. Silver's heart sank. But he was halfway in between the passenger door and the backseat. Turning around to reach for the back door, his shoulder bumped against Blaze's. "Oh, sorry," he said.

"No harm done."

Silver slid into the seat, confident that there was harm done. Was this all there was going to be for him? He goes out, meets a girl, and ends up with a slightly hurt shoulder and a "no harm done"?

His common sense told him to say anything, just a simple "nice meeting you", anything! But "common sense" was becoming more and more foreign, and he hadn't the heart to translate it.

The girl of his dreams was leaving and he hadn't even had a chance to dream yet. Imagine that.

His eyes bored into the headrest of Blaze's seat, and lost himself in the black fabric until it was time for him to go.


	3. Personality Quiz

Oh. That? Oh, no, that was just silly stuff. Silly, juvenile drama.

Plus, he had a lot on his plate. He didn't have time for that sort of thing.

"It looks like you've got a lot of time on your hands, actually."

"Shut up, Sonic."

* * *

By October, the whole thing was a distant memory to Silver. He'd begun college, moved into a dorm with Sonic _and_ Tails, and had a physics paper due in a few days. There was a lot on his mind.

His computer was running low on energy, and frankly, so was he. Even though it was a Friday night, he was seriously considering bed at 8:00.

Of course, his neighbors couldn't let that happen. "Ow!" Silver growled as a banana hit the side of his head. "Have you considered not doing that?" he muttered.

"Oh, sorry, Silv," Sonic laughed, barging into Silver's room. "The banana cannon works!" he called back to Tails.

"Banana cannon?" Silver asked curtly. The intrusion on Silver's space was not something he was enjoying, and he was beginning to learn that things like a banana cannon were the tip of the iceberg.

"Yes!" Sonic announced triumphantly. "Well, what _else_ were we gonna do with the bananas?"

"You're going to eat them," Silver stated, one eyebrow raised pointedly.

Sonic still had half a grin on his face, and was holding the banana out for Silver to take.

"It's secret code for, 'leave my room'," Silver kindly informed him.

"Ah. Gotcha, gotcha." Sonic rescinded the banana offer and flounced out the doorway. "Tails! We're gonna need to find another proving grounds for this baby."

"Actually, Sonic, I think you're out of time," Tails called back, presumably behind the wheel of this banana cannon, the bane of Silver's existence. "Or are you showing up fashionably late?"

"Well, if it's for the banana cannon, I might just," Sonic said mischievously.

"Late to what?" Silver asked, closing his laptop and leaning out of his doorway.

"You didn't hear? Some project a couple of guys are doing for psych - we're gonna go hit up the cafe and fill out a questionnaire, and then they pair you up with someone. Basically glorified speed dating."

"Using a psych project to get a date. You really are something else," Silver replied.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sonic laughed.

"That's neither here nor there."

Sonic cocked his head. "You know what? You're going with me."

"I am not."

"It's two against one, right, Tails?"

Tails called, "I'd say it couldn't hurt. That's more data for…"

"Yeah, whatever. Point is, Silver, you're outvoted. Now go get ready to meet some girls."

* * *

Silver really didn't know why he'd let Sonic talk him into it. Well, sure, his work _was_ boring. But...oh, who cares. He was here now.

"Tails, what's a great word that describes me? I need a fifth one." Sonic leaned over, pencil eraser in his mouth.

"I'd say 'attention-seeking'."

Sonic frowned.

"I'm kidding," Tails chuckled. "Have you used 'quick-witted' yet?"

"Oh, yeah! Thanks, Tails."

Silver rolled his eyes. He was still on question number three: What's your Zodiac sign?

"Hey, if I was born July 7th, what does that make me?" Silver asked.

"Cancer," Tails answered. Sonic snorted into his questionnaire.

Twenty-two questions later, he handed the form in to the guys running the experiment. The whole idea behind this still made Silver a bit uncomfortable - meet girls for science? But it was only for one night.

They matched him with a nice girl. He'd forgotten her name already. That made things awkward. Asking her for her name again would make it doubly awkward, though.

"So...you watch F.R.I.E.N.D.S., too?" she asked, eyes scrolling down his sheet. "Favorite couple?"

"I'm liking Ross and Julie," Silver began, at which his partner made a face - _You're kidding, right?_ Silver put up his hands in protest. "I'm in the middle of Season 2."

She continued to read his sheet. Silver took a quick glance around the room. On the other side, Tails was finding success with a cat he vaguely recognized from one or two of his classes. A few tables down, Sonic was eagerly talking up a girl he couldn't quite see past all the heads…

"...and Silver's here, too, you remember him…" Sonic was saying.

Silver's ears perked up. He craned his neck to see who Sonic was talking to that he could have met.

"And you...hey, earth to Silver," the girl he was with said. "You with me still?"

Silver blinked and looked back to his partner. "Oh, uh, yeah. Thought I heard something."

She didn't know what to make of this. "Okay...so you like-"

"So tell me, Miss Blaze," Sonic was starting…

Silver stood up so fast that he nearly took out his knee against the legs of the table. His partner jumped, and then glared, but he couldn't see it. He was already looking over the room at Blaze.

What were the chances? Silver hadn't thought at all that she might be going to the same school as he, and here she was, chatting with Sonic. Hey, what gives? Why didn't Sonic tell him about this already?

The girl snapped her fingers. "Hey, schizo. Eyes front." Silver frowned, and then realized where he was again.

"Right, sorry."

"You okay?"

"Um...yeah. Saw someone I know."

"An ex?" she said, leaning in close for that sweet gossip. Unfortunately, she wasn't going to get it.

"What? No," Silver stammered. Wait a minute, that made him sound kinda pathetic. "No, nothing like that."

Now she frowned. "Well, she must mean something to you. What are you doing here if she's right over there?"

This naturally made things really uncomfortable at Silver's table. He was now glad Sonic and Blaze were talking animatedly so that neither would see how spectacularly his table was failing.

A bell rang. Oh, right - that was the signal to switch partners. "Um, nice meeting you?" he offered.

"Sorta?" she muttered, turning and walking away.

* * *

He caught Blaze just as she was leaving the cafe. "Hey, uh, Blaze!"

Blaze turned. "Oh! Silver. Sonic was telling me you were here, but I didn't see you." She smiled slightly.

"I...yeah...yeah." _For Pete's sake._ Luckily, he saved himself: "How goes the violin?"

"Oh, it's going well." She cocked an eyebrow. "What do you usually do these days? I don't think you ever mentioned."

"Me? Well, I'm a history major, so you know...always swamped in work." Silver grinned and shrugged. "But, if you want to hang out sometime, I'm down."

He could hardly believe this was happening. He was doing so well!

Blaze smiled. "I'd be happy to, Silver. I've got a late night of studying to get to myself, though. See you around?"

Silver waved slightly as she turned to go, pulling her coat on. "You bet," he said. "Great seeing you."

This was the best he'd ever felt. Now, how to go about keeping it that way?


	4. Sock Assassin I

Between the banana cannons and Knuckles' insistence on doing all of his homework (loudly) at the wee hours of the night, there was never a dull moment on Floor 2 of Cyrus Hall - Silver's Hall.

As if to punctuate the thought, Knuckles suddenly leaned into Silver's room, adding a knock as an afterthought.

Silver glanced up, met Knuckles' eyes, and promptly returned to his French translation. "I have homework."

Knuckles' jaw dropped. "You didn't even know what I was gonna say!"

"Something that would have kept me from my French homework," Silver replied loftily. Knuckles ignored these implications and flopped down on Silver's bed.

"Well, I was _gonna_ ask you if you wanted to play Sock Assassin down at the science center." Knuckles procured a ball of socks from his pocket and began to toss it up and down.

Silver put his pencil down and turned to face Knuckles. "Knuckles…"

"Yeah?"

"Just to be clear. You just asked me if I wanted to play a game called 'Sock Assassin?'"

"Good job, champ. You figured it out."

"Okay, do you realize how stupid that sounds next to keeping my grades up?"

Knuckles sighed loudly. "First of all, Sock Assassin is _not_ stupid. And B, your grades are _fine_."

Silver maintained a deadpan stare, daring Knuckles to realize his error. Nothing happened.

Sonic took this silence as an opportunity to barge in as well, followed shortly by Tails. Both carried sock balls themselves. "Hey, Knux, how goes the recruitment?" Sonic asked cheerily.

"Morale must be low. We've got a soldier trying to desert," Knuckles grunted.

"I was never conscripted," Silver muttered.

Without missing a beat, Sonic said:

"Blaze is gonna be there."

* * *

It was warm for October. Silver knew this because he was now outside, having abandoned his French homework to follow Sonic and co. outside, to get to the science hall, because Blaze was going to be there.

"They suckered you into this, too?" Silver asked Tails as Sonic and Knuckles took turns trying to hit each other with their sock balls.

"Suckered? I'm done with this week's homework. I had nothing better to do," Tails grinned.

"It's only Monday," Silver mumbled under his breath as they entered the science hall. For the most part, it was totally empty. A short walk into a study room led to a group of four students, which Silver assumed were all about to play Sock Assassin as well.

"Ladies," Sonic nodded to three of them. Silver recognized them as Amy Rose, whose acquaintance he had made once or twice; Honey, a cat whom he knew of but had never spoken to; and - just as Sonic had said - Blaze.

"And gent," Sonic said to the last, someone from Silver's floor - Gadget.

"Oh, hey! You brought Silver!" Gadget greeted them.

"I dragged him kicking and screaming, you mean," Knuckles laughed. Silver shot him the stink eye.

Silver pulled up a chair next to Blaze. She smiled and said, "When you told me you wanted to hang out sometime, I didn't realize you meant so soon."

Outwardly, Silver laughed, but his heart suddenly jumped into his throat. What did that mean? Did he do something wrong? Was he not supposed to -

"Eyes front, soldier," Knuckles joked. Silver snapped back to attention, then realized that Knuckles had actually been talking to Gadget, who had briefly turned back to an open textbook.

"Here's how you play, because I know this is your first game for a lot of you," Sonic announced. "Everyone puts their name in a hat, and then they draw a name. That person is your target. You have to hit that person with your socks, and only that person. If you do, they're out and you get their target. We keep going until there's one person left."

"In other words, it's tag for the Most Likely To Disturb the Peace," Tails summarized. Amy and Honey snickered.

"Any questions?" Knuckles asked. No one did. Only Knuckles would have had questions anyway.

Gadget offered up his notebook paper for everyone to write their names on. The hat, now plump with names, was passed around. Silver drew Blaze.

"So we'll give you guys fifteen seconds to spread out. We're allowed to use the bottom two floors. Get going!" Sonic commanded. The more enthusiastic of the group scampered out, leaving a small group of Silver, Blaze, Honey, and Gadget shuffling out of the room last.

"I don't think we've met," Honey said immediately to Silver. "I'm Honey."

"I'm Silver. I think - weren't you on the calendar this year?" Silver asked, realizing where he knew her from.

"You bought that thing?" Gadget said, narrowing his eyes and mockingly judging Silver.

" _No_ , I, uh, saw it in the cafeteria," Silver stammered quickly.

"Sure…" Gadget teased.

Blaze shrugged and came to Silver's defense. "The one in the cafeteria _is_ hard to miss."

Honey thought for a moment. Then something seemed to come to her. "Hey Blaze, isn't your target Sonic?"

Blaze furrowed her brow. "Wait, how do you know that?"

Honey giggled. "I looked. He was heading to the basement floor. You could probably catch him if you go now."

Silver, Blaze, and Gadget silently judged Honey. Then Blaze shrugged again and jogged towards the basement stairs.

The study room had opened up into a large lobby, with a balcony above. Gadget, Buddy, and Honey patrolled the first floor.

"Neither of you have me, right?" Gadget asked suddenly.

"No," Honey and Silver both replied. Gadget breathed a sigh of relief.

"Wait a minute, why'd you tell Blaze to go find Sonic? She's my target," Silver said.

"I wanted you alone," Honey beamed. Silver stopped walking, prepared to run. "No, I don't have you, silly. I wanted to talk to you without _her_."

Silver frowned. "What do you mean?"

Honey looked left and right. "You like her, right?"

Gadget quickly said, "Should I be here?"

"You're fine," Honey laughed. Silver didn't feel as though it was fine.

"Why would you say that?" Silver hissed. Honey's smile widened as Silver realized it was the wrong thing to say.

"Blaze?" Gadget pondered this. "Yeah, you two would be good together," he nodded eagerly.

"I appreciate the sentiment, but I'm not into Blaze," Silver said, trying to end the conversation.

Honey snorted. "You totally are. Anyway, if you want tips, I can give you tips. I'm one of her friends, you know."

Silver fumed.

"Tips from Honey," Gadget whistled. "Sign me up."

Gadget wasn't helping. Silver told him so.

Honey didn't notice any of this at all. "Well, she likes old movies from the eighties, and…"

Silver suddenly gained a deep appreciation for the sport of Sock Assassin. "Where'd you get any of this from, Honey?" he asked.

"Sonic's been joking about it all week," Honey chimed nonchalantly.

"I'm going to go find Sonic," Silver grumbled, extremely chalantly, running for the basement stairs.


	5. Sock Assassin II

To Silver's delight, he wasn't followed by Honey. To his dismay, he _was_ followed.

"So...you and Blaze, huh?" Gadget started nonchalantly.

Silver gripped his sock ball tighter and let out a forced chuckle. "I don't know where you guys heard that."

"So it's true?" Gadget asked, like an eager puppy.

"I'm saying it's _not_ ," Silver shot back quickly, completely crimson.

Gadget pushed up his glasses with a paw, hiding a smug grin. Then his glasses skittered away as a sock ball slammed into his face.

"Ha- _hah_!" Knuckles crowed from behind them. "Gotcha, baby!"

"Yep, that would...seem to be the case," Gadget muttered indignantly, squinting to locate his glasses. Knuckles jogged towards them to retrieve his sock ball.

"Hey-hey-hey!" Gadget interjected, catching Knuckles' foot, which threatened to crush his glasses. "Watch where you're stepping, you menace."

"Menace. That's a good one," Knuckles rumbled in deep laughter, clapping Gadget on the back. Gadget nearly collapsed on the ground. "Anyway, who was your target?"

"Tails. And careful how you throw it. Lucky I had my glasses on; you're liable to give Tails a black eye." Gadget stood, inspecting his glasses for any bends. Then, satisfied, he turned back to Silver. "Oh. Good luck." He snickered as Silver's complexion began to match Knuckles'.

"Good luck with what?" Knuckles asked cluelessly as Gadget made his way back to the study room, "home base".

"Never mind," Silver replied quickly. "Have you seen Sonic? Or Blaze?"

"Uh, yeah, Sonic is with Tails somewhere in the basement." Knuckles tensed. "You don't have me, do you?"

"I have Blaze," Silver said, then furrowed his brow. "Wait, why would you even - why would I ask you where she was if I had you? -"

"Listen, Silv, I just throw the socks. I don't strategerize," Knuckles declared as he led Silver down the basement stairs.

Knuckles flattened himself against the stairs halfway down. "He's on the far end. He doesn't see us. Do not engage."

"You're a nerd," Silver said loftily, cruising past Knuckles and moving out into the hallway. Sonic was, indeed, at the far end, Tails in tow. They were covering each other's backs.

As they noticed Silver, both prepared to run. "Who's your target?" Sonic asked in a whisper audible to the entire building.

"Blaze. She isn't here?"

"She is not, in fact, here," Sonic said, unusually carefully. "Care to join us?"

"You said that really suspiciously," Silver whispered, giving him a side eye, "but okay."

"I think Blaze saw you and ran upstairs," Tails told him in a confidential tone. Sonic suppressed a giggle. Silver narrowed his eyes.

"What's that?" Silver asked.

"What's what?"

"You just laughed."

"I definitely did not just laugh," Sonic managed through choked-back laughter.

"You definitely - oh, whatever." Silver began to climb the stairs, motioning for the others to follow.

"Sure is nice that Blaze showed up, huh?" Sonic chuckled as they ascended.

"...um, yeah," Silver replied. "What are you saying?"

"Nothin'." Then Sonic and Tails burst into laughter.

Silver rolled his eyes. "Alright, Sonic, let's have it out. Why'd you tell Honey I like Blaze?"

"You like Blaze?" Sonic asked, stopping and raising his eyebrows. "I was kidding!"

"You _told_ Honey?" Tails asked, surprised.

Silver's heart skipped a beat. "Wait, you _didn't_ know?"

"Wait, you actually like her?"

" _I_ knew," Tails offered.

"Of course I actually like her!" Silver groaned indignantly. "Who did you tell?"

"Just Honey," Sonic said, "I swear!"

"That's enough for it to get around to the entire school in a few days," Tails remarked unhelpfully.

"Wonderful," Silver sighed.

"Speak of the devil," Tails continued. "Blaze at 3 o'clock."

"So if you didn't know, then what was so funny?!"

"Oh!" Sonic broke into his characteristic grin as he tossed his socks at Silver. "I had you."

If looks could kill, Sonic would have been six feet under.

* * *

Silver became acutely aware of the twitching in his eye as he returned to the study hall. The rest of his face must have been just as expressive, as Amy immediately asked what was wrong as he sat down.

"That obvious?" Silver replied.

"You couldn't keep a secret from a deaf person," Amy tittered. "What's up?"

"College drama is bull!$#." Silver groaned. In his few encounters with Amy, he knew her to be a good listener, a good skill for a psych major.

"Preach," she smiled sympathetically. She propped her chin in her hands. "The only good drama are the ones the performing arts kids put on. Oh, by the way, I heard Blaze is playing violin in the pit for the show...I can't think of the name…"

Without thinking, Silver replied instantly, "Oh, yeah, _Oklahoma!_ And she's playing viola for that one, actually, they didn't have enough-"

"-So it's true?" Amy asked as a smirk spread like a lazy dog across her face.

Silver's ears flattened in annoyance. Life was about to get much more difficult, unless he did something drastic.


End file.
